PILOT PROJECTS. international experiences on specific. aspects of drought and flood management that they could

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1 I PILOT PROJECTS 1) PILOT PROJECTS Workshop on PRONACOSE and PRONACCH, the Mexican drought and flood management programmes Workshop on the Mexican projects PRONACOSE and PRONACCH 2) CAPACITY BUILDING Workshop in Thun, Switzerland 3) PEARL Lecture by Head of St. Maarten Office of Disaster Management; Household survey in Genoa; Taiwan workshop; Learning & Action Alliance and 5th Project Committee Meeting; Outreach 3) PUBLICATIONS IFM Tools Series 4) OUTREACH NETWORKING AND New SPB: CEH; UN Open Day; GWP Stockholm Regional Days; WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative; EAWAG & Swiss Water Partnership event on SDG6; GWP Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation 5) STAFF MOVEMENTS Departures; New staff: Sulagna Mishra The workshop Taller de reflexión sobre avances y perspectivas en torno a la implementación del PRONACOSE y el PRONACCH ( Workshop on progress and perspectives on the implementation of PRONACOSE and PRONACCH ) took place in Mexico City, Mexico from 18 to 20 November 2015, with the aim to assess the performance of two flagship programmes, the National Programme against Drought (PRONACOSE) and the National Flood Management Programme (PRONACCH). Held in the framework of the existing cooperation between Mexico's National Water Commission (CONAGUA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the event centered around different key topics related to flood and drought management, more specifically Flood Loss Assessment, Vulnerability Assessment, and Risk Mapping. In addition to the personal contribution of some of its staff, WMO involved experts from its Support Base Partners: Mr Boni form CIMA and Mr Quinti from CERFE, as well as consultants from Cuba and Spain, namely Mrs Herrera and Mr Viñas-Rubio. The workshop was attended by around fifty officials from CONAGUA and the Mexican Institute on Water Technologies (IMTA) working on the implementation of PRONACOSE and PRONACCH. Participants had the chance to present current developments and explain any problems that they had experienced in their daily tasks. Most of them were very satisfied with the training, especially for the possibility to learn about international experiences on specific aspects of drought and flood management that they could eventually incorporate into their projects to solve existing issues. More precisely, they showed interest in the DEWETRA platform for real-time hydro-mete-

2 orological risk forecasting, monitoring and prevention, in community-based flood management and communication. Furthermore, new opportunities for collaboration between CONAGUA and WMO were identified in the Integrated Flood Management HelpDesk and the Global Framework for Climate CAPACITY BUILDING IFM Workshop at F2F 2015 On 10 November 2015, the APFM presented the Integrated Flood Management (IFM) HelpDesk to a public of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) experts participating in the F2F 2015 workshop. This event is organised every year by the Swiss NGO DRR Platform with the aim to promote the exchange of good practices and identification of synergies for the development of more integrated approaches to DRR. Under the theme Integrated Flood Management: Acting locally, thinking beyond, the 2015 discussions focused on integrated water resource management and early warning systems. The APFM presentation was well received by the participants, who appreciated the tools, publications and services available through the IFM HelpDesk. PEARL - Preparing for Extreme And Rare events in coastal regions Lecture by the Head of St. Maarten Office of Disaster Management at KCL On 16 November 2015, researchers and students at King s College London assisted to a lecture by Paul Martens, Head of the Office of Disaster Management of St. Maarten, about the disaster risk management system and institutions created on the island since the passage of Hurricane Luis in The practical slant of the presentation given by the policy-maker highlighted the interconnections among disaster management, on one side, and economic development, urbanisation and decentralisation, on the other side. The event was organised following the collection of data by KCL in St. Maarten as part of the case study research conducted within the PEARL project. 2 APFMFloodManagementNews Students training on household survey in Genoa Case Study Ten students from the Geology and Environmental Engineering departments of the University of Genoa had the opportunity to participate in a training course held by the University of Stuttgart and GISIG on 23 November in Genoa, Italy. The objective of the event was to prepare the group of undergraduates to carry out a household survey in the Bisagno case study site (Genoa, Italy) in the framework of WP1 of the PEARL project. The initiative was supported by the Municipality of Genova Civil Protection Department, which intervened in the training to provide students with some useful notions on the local hydro-geological risks and practical suggestions about the execution of interviews. PEARL Taiwan Workshop 2015 With the support of the Ministry of Science of Technology of Taiwan, the National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) convened the PEARL Taiwan Workshop From 25 to 28 November 2015, more than 80 participants from the general public, academic community, private sector, and national and local authorities gathered in NCKU headquarter in Tainan, Taiwan to discuss PEARL research on coastal flood management. Presentations about the project and the case studies in Hamburg, Germany and Yilan, Taiwan were accompanied by field experiences about the combination of science and local knowledge for decision making in flood-prone area. A field trip to the Coastal Ocean Monitoring Center at NCKU and the Taipei Flood Control System located at the River Management Office of the Water Resources Agency (WRA), Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded the event.

3 Learning & Action Alliance and 5th Project Committee Meeting in Marbella, Spain From 12 to 15 January 2016 the city of Marbella, Spain was the setting of two important events for project PEARL: the establishment of the local Learning & Action Alliance (LAA) and the fifth Project Committee Meeting. Although the get-togethers were held back-to-back, they had different goals and audiences. The first was attended by local stakeholders (authorities, civil society, and the private sector) with the purpose to create a forum to discuss and find solutions to the issue of coastal flooding in the municipality. The second brought together PEARL partners to take stock of the progress achieved in the previous six months and program future work up to June The outcomes of both meetings were positive: on one side, a local action plan to cope with extreme weather events in Marbella was adopted; on the other side, partners shared and solved together glitches encountered in the implementation of Working Packages and Case Studies. the Knowledge Base Platform for Resilience Measures and Strategies developed within WP5 was particularly appreciated by the public. Participants not only provided useful advices for its improvement; many of them also volunteered to contribute content to the tool. PUBLICATIONS New items in the APFM Tools Series Adding to the Flood Management Tools Series, the APFM has launched 5 new publications between January and February: Issue 21 on Effectiveness of Flood Management Measures presents various methods to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of flood management plans before, during and after the occurrence of floods. These auditing and evaluation techniques additionally allow to identify projects shortcomings and consequently adjust implementation schedules. Issue 22 on The Role of Media in Flood Management highlights the importance of media as joining link between decision makers and the general public during all phases of the flood management process. It provides a description of the potential functions of media, as well as examples of the use of different types of media by authorities and private organisations. Outreach What is the sense of doing research, if you do not disseminate results? This is why PEARL partners put a lot of effort in giving as broad as possible publicity to the project. In the last months, it was promoted at these international events: World Water Week, August, Stockholm, Sweden: The community-based risk management approach for urban flooding applied to the case study of Ayutthaya, Thailand was illustrated within the seminar Eye on Asia: Water for Cities, held on 25 August. Special prominence was given to the stakeholder involvement and communication aspects of the task. Amsterdam International Water Week, 2-6 November, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: In the framework of the workshop Tools for Urban Resilience & Climate Adaptation, the presentation of 3 APFMFloodManagementNews Issue 23 on Health and Sanitation Aspects of Flood Management suggests a series of measures to enhance preparedness, respond to and recover from the adverse impacts of floods on public health. A participatory approach is highly recommended to take into due account differences in the health and sanitation conditions of various social groups. Issue 24 on Technical Assistance for the Preparation of an Advocacy Strategy proposes different steps to develop advocacy strategies for the integration of stakeholders interests into flood management policies. This could also shorten the distance between decision-makers and scientists by creating new channels of communication. Tool No. 24 is available both in English and Spanish.

4 Issue 25 on Public Perception of Flood Risk and Social Impact Assessment illustrates how the behaviour of the population is influenced by its perception of risk and introduces Social Impact Assessments (SIA) as a methodology to address this issue in flood management plans. Tool No. 25 can be downloaded in English and French. Other Tools are in the pipeline stay tuned! OUTREACH & NETWORKING New SBP Centre for Ecology & Hydrology In November 2015, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) joined the team of Support Base Partners of the IFM HelpDesk. As a member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), CEH conducts research on land and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere, integrating different disciplines in the framework of academic, public, private and voluntary sector partnerships. Thanks to its strong experience in monitoring, analysis and modeling, CEH will cooperate with the APFM in areas of mutual interest, including the estimation of rainfall and flood frequency, flood forecasting and prediction, and assessment of the impact of climate and land-use change on flooding. A warm welcome to CEH, the APFM looks forward to working together! UN Open Day On 24 October, the inhabitants of the Genevan region had a chance to visit the Palais the Nations. An Open Day was organised in the premises of the United Nations, including a rich agenda of events and booths. Roberto Silva Vara welcomed guests at the stand of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on behalf of the APFM and satisfied their curiosity about floods and the objectives, partners and activities of the programme. 4 APFMFloodManagementNews GWP Stockholm Regional Days As representative of the APFM, Mr Giacomo Teruggi from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) took part to the Stockholm Regional Days, held at the headquarter of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden from 22 to 24 November Two issues were on his agenda: on one side, he described the successes and challenges of the cooperation between WMO and GWP within the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM), the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS); on the other side, he proposed to the Financial Partners Group to use the activities of APFM and IDMP as a tool for the implementation of the GWP "Towards 2020" strategy. WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative Advisory Group The IFM HelpDesk was much-valued by the members of the Advisory Group of the Flood Forecasting Initiative (FFI-AG) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) during their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on 1-3 December To take advantage of the good structure and high number of visits to the platform, the FFI-AG decided to channel to the HelpDesk all initiatives under the framework of the FFI, such as guidance material, trainings and expertise about flood forecasting and warning (FF&W). While broadening the Support Base of the APFM, this initiative was also meant to disseminate the outcomes of the work of FFI to the wider audience of the APFM website. EAWAG & Swiss Water Partnership event on SDG 6 The event The Sustainable Development Goals What can Swiss partners contribute?, held on 1 December 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland, stimulated inspiring discussions about the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation. The APFM, in the person of Sara Oppenheimer, was invited to attend the meeting organised by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (EAWAG) and the Swiss Water Partnership, together with many other organisations, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), GEMI - Integrated monitoring of water and sanitation related SDG targets, the Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health (GIWEH), and WaterLex. Shared vision and objectives with many of these allowed the extension and reinforcement of connections within the APFM network.

5 GWP Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Flood Management On December 2015, the APFM participated in the Regional Workshop on South- South Cooperation organized by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in Guangdong, China. Within the context of discussions about regional cooperation in common areas of interest, including flood management, a keynote speech introducing the APFM and a presentation on The Global Flash Flood Guidance System were given by a representative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The event helped in successfully developing a common approach towards flood management through the exchange of views and ideas on topics, such as flood forecasting and early warning, urban flood management, community-based approaches, and adaptation to climate change. Participants also visited two important local flood and water management infrastructures: the Guangdong dike and City Water Authority. STAFF MOVEMENTS Departures Firas Al Janabi, Sara Oppenheimer, Charlotte Poussin and Luis Roberto Silva Vara left the APFM Technical Support Unit (TSU) in December Their estimable contributions to the management and implementation of APFM and FFGS activities have been highly appreciated within and outside WMO. Big thanks for their valuable support and good luck in their future endeavors from the APFM team! New staff Sulagna Mishra Sulagna Mishra joined the APFM TSU on 1 November for a period of 6 months as an intern seconded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Carlo Schmidt Scholarship. In addition to a background in Civil and Environmental Engineering, she holds a Master Degree in Hydrogeology and Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany). She worked as a research assistant in the Hydrology depart- ment of the TU Darmstadt (Germany) and as a planning engineer at Simplex Infrastructures Limited (India). In the AFPM, she will mainly work on the finalization of different reports and the preparation of presentations about the IFM Tools Series. She will also provide support to WMO Hydrological Forecasting for Water Resources Management (HFWR) activities, including the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS) and the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS).